Okay so I’ve been doing some thinking and have come to the conclusion that sometimes the Oceans in One Piece kind of operate like the ocean in the Discworld series.
The basic gist of it (Since I can’t find the novel where Terry Pratchett explains it) is that because of the different densities of water, there’s different layers to the ocean. most ships will sail on the top, but if one sinks it’ll go down to a deeper part of the ocean and sail on a different current, buffeted around deep below the waves on a sea that is largely the same but also very different
and I guess since One Piece is One Piece we can apply that same logic to Sky Islands, since there’s essentially a sky ocean as well.
I guess what i’m saying is that sometimes things happen because narratively it fits or is cool and makes the worldbuilding stronger
… the theory is easy to understand. It runs: the sea is, after all, in many respects, only a wetter form of air. And it is known that air is heavier the lower you go and lighter the higher you fly. As a storm-tossed ship founders and sinks, therefore, it must reach a depth where the water below it is just viscous enough to stop its fall. In short, it stops sinking and ends up floating on an underwater surface, beyond the reach of the storms bu far above the ocean floor.
“Although your name probably is Moist von Lipwig, because I can’t believe anyone would choose that as an assumed name,” she went on.
“Thank you very much!”
-
Moist, Moist told himself, wasn’t a girl’s name.
It also wasn’t a boy’s name. His parents had apparently loved him, and must’ve had some reason to name him Moist, but neglected to pass that reason unto him before dying of Gnats.
The tumblers in the lock went glink. He swung the door open, making one short, high creak from the hinges rather than the low, awful, guttural groan he would’ve gotten from pushing it open slowly.
Something in the room behind him snorted and turned over. Moist let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
And really, he told himself as he picked the lock shut, who’d know? He didn’t plan on staying in any one town for long - he could say his name was Fritz, or Albert, and by the time anyone noticed him he’d be off to the next town.
So if he was going to go out into the world and wear trousers and be a boy - he hopped over the creaky step - then he could still call himself Moist.
Moist von Lipwig would - with the aid of an Igor somewhere on the way - grow up into a man without a strong sense of the inner awareness of self, and this moment would mark his last serious effort into the art of introspection*.
It was interrupted by the sounds of dozens and dozens of doggy throats barking and baying, rattling at cages and chains and turning the mist-filled yard into a foggy nightmare.
His grandfather’s dogs. Damn. He bolted along the last stretch, slipping on the dewy grass. He reached the fence at a dead run, used the momentum to swing his legs up and over, and toppled into the country road.
Moist von Lipwig ran, dirty, bruised, and laughing into his future.
“‘That bastard has just walked into the place!’ she hissed. ‘Reacher Gilt! I’ll just kill him and join you for the pudding …’ ‘You can’t do that!’ hissed Moist. ‘Oh? Why not?’ ‘You’re using the wrong knife! That’s for the fish! You’ll get into trouble!’”
“‘In my experience Miss Cripslock tends to write down exactly what one says,’ Vetinari observed. ‘It’s a terrible thing when journalists do that. It spoils the fun. One feels instinctively that it’s cheating, somehow.’”
1: a hand-operated kitchen utensil used for beating, stirring, or whipping; especially : a rotary device for these purposes
2: helicopter
also known as an “egg whisk” ie one of the class of gadgets that get stuck in kitchen drawers causing much rattling and cursing which is as praise to the ex-volcano goddess turned patron of hopeless causes whose world-weariness is a pun on her name (or else the other way round) bc sympathetic magic (x)
“Thank you,” he said. For whatdid not matter; smile, say the right kind of words in the right kind of way, and always, always radiate confidence like a supernova.
Describing Terry Pratchett’s books is difficult. Someone asked me what the book I was reading was about, and I had to tell them it was about banking and the gold standard, but like in a cool way with golems and action.
I don’t think they believed me.
welcome to the club
It is so, so difficult to explain to people that your favorite book is about transgender feminist dwarves, Nazi werewolves, and the mystery of a missing piece of really old ritual bread. And Opera saves the day.
yes, give us those sweet, sweet, terrible descriptions
A tortoise who’s really a god, finds an allegory for Jesus and they go on adventures in an ancient greece like place and then a desert
The chief of police averts a rerun of an ancient war, partially despite and partially because of being possessed by a dying dwarf’s graffiti
It’s like Les Miserables but Javert is the good guy and also there’s time travel.
Macbeth but it’s about the witches
Chapter one, the protagonist is hanged. Then he’s put in charge of the post office. Yes, in that order.
it’s like mulan if there were way more mulans in mulan and also pratchett is extra irritated that too many people missed the point of jingo
The bureaucrats of the universe get annoyed at the paperwork humanity causes so they decide to steal Christmas. Replacement Christmas is done by Death and replacement Death is done by goth Mary Poppins, who is also in charge of the investigation.
these are all nice and accurate reasons to read discworld if you haven’t yet
Romeo and Juliet football AU but the other team is wizards
Hollywood????
An entire clan of tattooed, hairy, kleptomaniac, alcoholic Scotsmen decide a little girl is their new best friend whether she wants to be or not and she rescues her absolutely worthless brother by discovering the power of selfishness.
Someone is dying, journalism is being invented, and part of Pulp Fiction is going on in the background.
The universes burocrats want to measure everything so they pay a man to imprison time so everything will stop and they can measure things in peace. Goth mary Poppins saves the day, the fifth horseman of the apocalypse is the best Milkman in the world, and chocolate saves the day. Also someone was born twice.
Classic dynastic machinations are happening in fantasy China, to be completely overturned by a gang of elderly barbarian heroes and the world’s worst wizard and best sprinter
A sad, pathetic male of his species re-plumbs the depths of his soul and saves the city by wooing a powerful female. The same thing happens to a dragon.
…And all the above are true. :)
Someone invents a) affirmative action and b) black powder firearms. This makes a lot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move.
A convicted (and executed) conman is given the job of looking after the moribund municipal government service and ends up fighting the corrupt businessmen who took over the internet and put it behind a giant paywall.
Cinderella but it’s about the fairy godmothers (and their opposite numbers), with bonus Frog Princess reversed, Puss-in-Boots reversed, vodoun/ Santería reversed, Casanova sort of reversed, and Wizard of Oz reversed, with musings along the way about identity, justice vs. mercy, and inedible bread,
Midsummer Night’s Dream meets Fake Boudicca, with bonus teen identity, how to spot and avoid grooming, the purpose of royalty, the purpose of witches, and bees.
Dracula, but with religion, resisting manipulation, the nature of sin, and Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Assassins Creed meets Egyptian Mythology; there are time loops, reanimated mummies, and camels are mathematical geniuses. Also technically incest but it’s okay?
Proto-Socialist policeman and reluctant noble solves a murder, avenges genocide, and learns kung-fu. There’s high-speed chase shenanigans and a lethal butler. Also harp music and jokes about novelists.
